Blues harmonica master Carey Bell died on May 6 of heart failure in his hometown of Chicago. He was 70. Bell – the 1998 winner of the Blues Music Award for Traditional Male Artist Of The Year – was a ...

Mixing jazz and blues demands a delicate balance between preserving live energy and achieving a polished, listener-ready sound. Engineers must respect the genre’s dynamics, acoustic space, and ...

Among the harmonica’s many wonderful and unique traits, there is this: You have to really suck to be good at it. As one of America’s finest and busiest harmonica players, Denver’s Ronnie Shellist ...

Mississippi blues harp player James Cotton was certainly considered lucky for the break he got joining Muddy Waters’ band in the late 1950s, taking over a spot previously held by such venerated ...

The Center for the Arts is pleased to present Mark Hummel’s Harmonica Blowout in the Marisa Funk Theater on February 14, 2024. Mark Hummel’s Harmonica Blowout celebrates 31 years of touring in 2024.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, ... Telarc Blues culls their considerable holdings to provide a wholly satisfying collection of contemporary blues harmonica by contemporary and ...

I’m not an especially fervent advocate of blues harmonica, but I do love the greats—both the Sonny Boy Williamsons, Big Walter Horton, much of Charlie Musselwhite‘s innovative output. But for me no ...

He first rose to fame as a high-energy sideman for Muddy Waters during a 12-year stint into the '60s, having made his initial recordings for Sun Records in 1953 at age 15. "'Cotton Crop Blues' was the ...

CHICAGO — The blues world was changed forever on a sunny day around 1960 when a little boy walked into a five-and-dime in Los Angeles. “I was 8, maybe 9 when I saw it, all shiny in a display case,” ...

Pairing harmonica with guitar can unlock a richer, more soulful blues sound. From classic 12-bar shuffles to expressive bends, the combination offers endless creative possibilities. With the right ...

UPDATE: Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blowout tour, which was supposed to launch in January, has been postponed. New dates have not been announced yet. See markhummel.com for more information. The ...

Blues harmonica virtuoso and onetime Muddy Waters sideman James Cotton died on Thursday at a medical center in Austin of pneumonia. He was 81. A rep for the musician confirmed his death. Cotton, who ...